It is well known in the automotive industry to have a pickup truck with an extended cab. An extended cab in a pickup truck allows for the placement of a small bench seat for children or for storage placement inside the vehicle. The overwhelming majority of extended cab vehicles have only driver side and passenger side vehicle doors. In smaller pickup trucks, the area behind the seating is not large enough for a small bench seat but is merely provided for cargo space. However, even in these circumstances, a rear cargo door, at least on the driver side, would be highly desirable to give greater ease of access to the storage space. This access to the storage space is even more desirable for physically challenged individuals since it is often difficult, if not impossible, to place a folded wheelchair into the storage space when the truck only has a conventional front door.
There are three major options in providing a rear cargo door. First, the cargo door may be a sliding door as typically utilized in van vehicles. The sliding door concept is not desirable since it typically requires a longitudinal slot for a middle hinge on the door to extend along the side of the bed of the pickup truck. Additionally, it is almost always desirable to have a small gap between the bed of the pickup truck and the cab for structural reasons. A second option is to have the rear cargo door pivot off a B-pillar and pivot in an angular orientation opposite the pivotal opening of the front door, thereby eliminating any pillar between the front and rear doors. If a conventional hinge is utilized, the hinge must be external to the side of the vehicle. External hinges are less desirable due to aerodynamic reasons and appearance reasons, and also outside exposure exposes them to the elements and dirt. However, an exterior hinge is highly desirable in the case of pickup trucks since another design consideration is to minimize the gap between the cab and the front end of the pickup bed to eliminate interference when opening the door.
To make a truly world class vehicle, a third option should be selected. In the third option, the hinge will be concealed and the rear door should be as close to the pickup bed as possible.